List of Major Cities in U.S. Lacking Amtrak Service

Several major cities and regional business centers in the continental United States lack Amtrak service. Five cities boast more than one million residents. However, some of these cities may be served by Thruway Motorcoach. There is no Amtrak service outside of 46 of the contiguous states and the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec. There is no Amtrak service to the states of South Dakota or Wyoming. A partial list of the cities not directly served by Amtrak is as follows (in order by decreasing population):

This transport-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

• Phoenix, Arizona, (Metro Population 4,281,899) Service ended in June 1996 (see below).
• Las Vegas, Nevada, (1,865,746) Lost service with the discontinuance of the Desert Wind in 1997.
• Columbus, Ohio, (1,773,120) Lost service with the discontinuance of the National Limited in 1979. Largest metro to have neither Amtrak trains nor Thruway Motorcoach.
• Nashville, Tennessee, (1,550,733) Lost service with the discontinuance of the Floridian in 1979.
• Louisville, Kentucky, (1,244,696) Lost service with the discontinuance of the Kentucky Cardinal in 2003.
• Tulsa, Oklahoma, (916,079)
• Dayton, Ohio, (848,153) Lost service with the discontinuance of the National Limited in 1979.
• Allentown, Pennsylvania, (808,210)
• Baton Rouge, Louisiana, (774,327)
• McAllen, Texas, (710,514)
• Akron, Ohio, (699,935) Lost service in ____, gained it in 1998 with the rerouting of the Broadway Limited, then lost it in 2005 with the discontinuance of the Three Rivers
• Knoxville, Tennessee, (691,152)
• Colorado Springs, Colorado, (617,714)
• Wichita, Kansas, (603,716) Lost service with the discontinuance of the Lone Star in 1979, new service probable around 2012.
• Boise, Idaho, (599,753) Lost service with the discontinuance of the Pioneer in 1997.
• Youngstown, Ohio, (570,704) Lost service in 2005 with the discontinuance of the Three Rivers
• Madison, Wisconsin, (561,505)
• Des Moines, Iowa, (556,230)
• Augusta, Georgia, (534,218)
• Chattanooga, Tennessee, (518,441)
• Tri-Cities, Tennessee, (500,538)
• Lexington, Kentucky, (453,424)
• Fayetteville, Arkansas, (443,976)
• Springfield, Missouri, (426,206)
• Corpus Christi, Texas, (415,376)
• Fort Wayne, Indiana, (411,154) Lost service in 1990, was a station of the Broadway Limited.
• Asheville, North Carolina, (408,436)
• Mobile, Alabama, (406,309) Service has been suspended since Hurricane Katrina struck in August 2005.
• Manchester, New Hampshire, (402,042)
• Huntsville, Alabama, (395,645)
• Brownsville, Texas, (392,736)
• Shreveport, Louisiana, (389,533)
• Quad Cities area, Illinois and Iowa (377,625) New service probable around 2015.
• Peoria, Illinois, (372,487)
• Montgomery, Alabama, (365,924)
• Tallahassee, Florida, (357,259) Service of the Sunset Limited east of New Orleans has been suspended since Hurricane Katrina struck in August 2005.
• Rockford, Illinois, (353,722) Lost service in 1981. New service probable by 2011.
• Evansville, Indiana, (350,261)
• Wilmington, North Carolina, (347,012)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin, (302,935)
• Roanoke, Virginia, (298,108)
• Fort Smith, Arkansas, (290,977)
• Columbus, Georgia, (287,653)
• Duluth, Minnesota, (274,571)
• Lubbock, Texas, (270,610)
• Clarksville, Tennessee, (261,220)
• Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, (257,380)
• Cedar Rapids, Iowa, (255,452)
• Amarillo, Texas, (243,838)
• Laredo, Texas, (236,941, metro 718,073) lost service in 1981 with the cancellation of the Inter-American.
• Sioux Falls, South Dakota, (232,930) South Dakota and Wyoming are not served by Amtrak.
• Macon, Georgia, (230,777)
• College Station, Texas, (207,425) Service cut in the mid 1990s when the Texas Eagle was rerouted.
• Athens, Georgia, (189,264)
• Rochester, Minnesota, (182,924)
• Columbia, Missouri, (164,283)
• Waterloo-Cedar Falls, Iowa, (164,220)
• Abilene, Texas, (159,521)
• Pueblo, Colorado, (156,737)
• Billings, Montana, (152,005) Lost service in 1979 when the North Coast Hiawatha was discontinued.
• Iowa City, Iowa, (149,437) New service probable around 2011.
• Bangor, Maine, (148,000)
• Wheeling, West Virginia, (144,847)
• Florence-Muscle Shoals, Alabama, (143,791)
• Sioux City, Iowa, (143,157)
• Saint George, Utah, (138,115) Although no line runs through, the city is connected to Amtrak by a bus line.
• Midland-Odessa, Texas, (131,941)
• Owensboro, Kentucky, (112,762)
• Bismarck, North Dakota, (61,272, metro 108,779) Lost service in 1979 when the North Coast Hiawatha was discontinued.

Other cities are not served directly due to inconvenient water barriers; they include San Francisco, where trains stop across the bay in Oakland and Emeryville; and St. Petersburg, Florida, where trains stop across the bay in Tampa. Trains had previously crossed some of the bays in question. Whereas trains once went from Oakland to San Francisco, they have been replaced by auto traffic (although the BART commuter heavy rail system operates a trans-bay tube underneath the bay and Amtrak-operated Caltrain connects to the Capitol Corridor and Coast Starlight in San Jose). However, Amtrak has worked on plans to resume the Coast Daylight service (which once existed as an Amtrak service but was rerouted to continue north to Portland, and was renamed the Coast Starlight) from San Francisco to Los Angeles since the late 1990s, which will, when launched, finally give San Francisco Amtrak rail service. More specific plans have been assembled within the last few years, but any restoration of service would start in 2013 at the earliest. St. Petersburg also lost service across the bay when CSX lacked adequate funds to maintain the bridge across the bay. This proves inconvenient because the only other method of transportation is private taxi. The TECO Line Streetcar System and HART buses both don't connect with the two areas, although express bus service exists between PSTA and HART.

Amtrak provides no service to Mexico. The closest Amtrak service to Mexico may be found at stations along the western portion of the Sunset Limited and southwestern portion of the Texas Eagle in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California; as well as the Pacific Surfliner service to Union Station in San Diego, California.

Phoenix, Arizona, is served via thruway motorcoach from the Southwest Chief at Flagstaff, Arizona. The Sunset Limited stops three times a week at Maricopa, roughly 30 miles south of the city; private taxis and the Maricopa MAX express bus are the only transportation from there to metro Phoenix, although the MAX bus schedules do not line up well with the Amtrak schedule, which runs late at night. Phoenix lost service in June 1996 after Southern Pacific (now a part of Union Pacific) threatened to abandon the line from Yuma.

Currently, Amtrak is studying rail lines formerly canceled that could renew service to some cities. Cities involved include Boise, Mobile, Tallahassee, Quad Cities, Billings, and Wichita. Proposals for high speed rail could also restore service for several cities. Both plans should reveal cities selected by 2010. Other services Amtrak intends on restoring include the Pioneer (serving Chicago-Seattle via the California Zephyr route, Wyoming and Idaho), the Black Hawk, the North Coast Hiawatha (serving Chicago-Seattle via. Empire Builder route and southern Montana & North Dakota), and the New Orleans-Orlando segment of the Sunset Limited.